Theresa's 'May-a culpa': PM to apologise for election failure at Tory party ...

GETTYTheresa may will make a grovellig apology to the Conservative party for her election failure

Having gambled and lost her government majority on a snap election in June, many observers believe it is only a matter of time before someone within the party makes a grab for power and challenges Mrs May to a leadership contest.

She has been mocked by opposition MPs as an "interim" Prime Minister, and few have predicted the MP for Maidenhead will stilll be in Number 10 when the next election, scheduled for 2022, comes around.

But the embattled premier will nevertheless make an appeal to her Conservative colleagues to let her keep her job, in a 'may-a culpa' speech on the first day of the Tory conference in Manchester on October 1.

A senior Number 10 advisor told the Mail Online that Mrs May will be forced to apologise to grassroots supporters who spent weeks trying to drum up support for her doomed election campaign, as well as the numerous Conservative MPs who lost their seats when her gamble backfired.

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She will try to placate disgruntled cabinet colleagues by insisting she is ready to shed her "robot" image and start listening to their views, while reiterating her belief that she is the woman to navigate Britain through the choppy waters of Brexit.

"She will say she feels the same pain as they do, say she has learned her lesson and is ready to change, take advice and be more open," the advisor said.

"She will ask them to trust her and stick with her through Brexit. She has to stop comments about her being robotic – it isn’t true."

Mrs May's supporters hope the apology will recast her as more human, willing to hear the opinions of a wider group and not just those of her inner circle.

Her reliance on only a select bunch of close confidents was blamed for the incusion of the controversial dementia tax within the Conservative manifesto, which several cabinet MPs recognised as a vote loser from the outset.